Glassine Visions~

dsc03101
Seattle’s Garden and Glass Museum showcases the magical worlds created by glass artist Dale Chihuly.
dsc03100
Chihuly creates huge glass wonderlands,
dsc03093-1
resembling hallucinatory under-seascapes,
dsc03095

full of phantasmagorical deep-sea creatures.

dsc03110
Mirrors create reflective visions like crystalline creatures from outer space.

dsc03115
There are magic mushrooms,
dsc03122
glowing like alien forms,

dsc03137
in surreal secret gardens.
dsc03145
Visiting here one feels much like Alice with a two-way ticket to wonderland!
Cheers to you from the inventive worlds of Dale Chihuly~


Discover more from Cindy Knoke

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

329 thoughts on “Glassine Visions~

  1. I find colored glass so fascinating. It’s not just the colors, it’s the shine, the reflection all of it. I start to sound like a broken record when I -once again- praise the great pictures.

    I suggest you post some blooper shots once, just to make lousy photographers like me feel good 🙂

    1. We could make a whole blog devoted to photographic bloopers! It is such a good idea! We could start a blog asking readers to submit their biggest blooper photos. We could have a separate category for blooper selfies. It would be hilarious and lots of fun!
      And, yes, I love the reflective quailities of glass too. It makes us question what we see, what is real and what is illusion. Is there any difference? Fascinates me…..

  2. Dale is really a great artist. I saw his work being displayed at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. I was blown away. Thanks Cindy for sharing this.

  3. Such a genius….and since he was blinded in his left eye (ironically, by glass, as he smashed through the windshield in a car accident) and otherwise forced to give up the actual glassblowing in favor of design and directing projects, he says now he can really step back and see…..

  4. Chihuly had an exhibit in Toronto this summer and I took lots of pictures. I contacted his office to see if I could post the pictures on my site but they told me to contact a lawyer. I was so rattled that I deleted his pictures and abandoned the idea. I was really impressed with his work and blown away by what he charged to buy a piece of his work. Maybe I didn’t approach his people in the right manner. Nevertheless, it was one amazing exhibit.
    Leslie

    1. How terrible for you and how short sighted of his office. You should post. Photographers were allowed in the Garden and Glass Museum. Unless the museum has policies preventing you from taking photos which it obviously didn’t, and as long as you cite the source on your blog, you are free to post.

      1. They allowed us to take photos inside the exhibit but when I consulted them at his web site they were all caught up in the copy rights issues. Like you, I had no intention of monetizing it in anyway, just to introduce people to this great art form and amazing artist. If I have to consult with a lawyer to do this – forget it.
        Leslie

    1. I would love to see your photos when you do! His work allows for very creative photography because you can pick and choose what you want to emphasize, how you want to work with the light, angles, reflections etc. It makes for very different looking photos depending upon what you want, which makes it lots of fun~

  5. Chihuly is one of my art-heroes – how fabulous to see his working in your post. We first saw his displays at a marvellous and memorable exhibition in London’s Kew Gardens. I adore the way in which each piece is a wonder in its own right, and also combines with the landscape to produce something which is most definitely greater than the sum of the parts! 😀🌸❤️

    1. Oh it must have been gorgeous in Kew! The blending with the landscape is genius isn’t it! What amazed me the most you can see in the last photo. He took these black an white pieces, and placed them with monochromatic plantings so the whole scence looked black and white, but then around the edges he put blooming flowers. The photo looks doctored, black and white in the center, techni-color in the perimeter, but this is what he created and it shows itself best in photos. Amazing!

  6. I grew up getting to go to the Corning Museum of Glass and seeing the amazing glass artisans at work but I’ve never seen anything as beautiful this.

    1. I have never even heard of the Corning Museum of Glass, so now I must google it. So glad you feel about Chihuly as I do. He is quite unique especially considering many of his pieces are huge, like worlds you walk through.

      1. If you’re ever in NY State it is worth a visit. Thank you for sharing the beauty that abounds in the rest of this world outside of my corner of it. <3

    1. Tacoma is where Chihuly was born. There probably is an exhibit there but I haven’t seen it. I have been to Murano in Italy but don’t know where else Murano glass is exhibited. It is sold in many places though. So sorry, this one I don’t know.

  7. Yes, this work DOES make me think of Alice in Wonderland! Very trippy. I’ve been to Seattle once but didn’t know of this place, so thanks for this introduction as well as providing a splash of color on a grey day Cindy! I don’t know if you’re getting this storm up there in the Pacific Northwest or not but NorCal is being hammered by it. Great for the plants to get rain though!

    1. I am bascially obsessed with your storm. I read about the tornados in Washington and Oregon, and I am concerned for people, but mostly just sad. The wild animals are full on stressed at The Holler and so are the plants. So many thousands of trees have died. The hawks try desperately to pick up moisture from my hose sprayed vertically to them, but they are too distrustful to get much benefit. They never have flown so close, so I know how desperate they are. I worry about the Great Horned Owls a lot. They also are coming closer than normal, but they won’t take water from me. At this point, I worry the severe drought in SoCal, having moved into it’s 7th year, is going to turn the whole place into a desert, which is devastating for the wildlife, and the flora.
      The vultures and ravens were spinning close again in the sky today. The sight is amazing. Maybe a hundred, circling because something else has died.
      It is bad here Lynn.
      We desperately need rain.

      1. Yeah, I’ve seen some of the dried up wildlife refuges around the Sacramento area during my travels. You see big bare patches of green ground (that used to be algae floating on the ponds that used to be there). Yeah, no water is no good. I hope for rain where you’re at as well because, as your posts have shown, The Holler is just amazing when it’s teeming with life!

  8. Beautiful pics. Have you seen any of the documentaries on PBS that show how his team builds these things? Interesting stuff. My sister and bro in law have a glass studio in Denver – they tried to show me how once. I still have that misshaped shot glass…

    1. Yeah, I watched the video at the museum and I have been to Murano and The Czech Republic and have seen the glass blowing. It is something that is amazing. I see how it’s done, but it astounds me. It is an amazing art form, and it is HOT. Dangerous. You have a very cool sister and brother in law, which fits with you. I love your mishaped shot glass. Smiling….thank you!

Leave a Reply to Beauty Along the RoadCancel reply